The LACV-30 (Lighter Air Cushion Vehicle, 30 tons) was a

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

used by the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command (MERADCOM) for offloading cargo from amphibious ships. For logistic transport, the Army was already using the

LARC-V LARC-V (Lighter, Amphibious Resupply, Cargo, 5 ton), is an aluminium-hulled amphibious cargo vehicle capable of transporting 5 tons. It was developed in the United States during the 1950s, and is used in a variety of auxiliary roles to this ...

and

LARC-LX The LARC-LX (Lighter, Amphibious Resupply, Cargo, 60 ton), originally designated as BARC (Barge, Amphibious Resupply, Cargo) is a welded steel-hulled amphibious cargo vehicle. Description It could carry up to 100 tons of cargo or 200 ...

, huge 4-wheeled vehicles referred to as 'barges on wheels'. The Army used the LACV-30 to transport 20 ft. standard MILVAN containers as well as outsize loads that would not fit on a LARC-V or LARC-LX. MERADCOM operated 24 LACV-30s between 1983 and 1994. The LACV-30 was derived from the civilian Bell Voyageur air-cushion vehicle (hovercraft). It is capable of carrying 30 tons (27 tonnes). The hull is that of a large barge, but behind the deck house at the stern, there are 2 air propellers, which are followed by rudders, while under the hull there is a cushion of air which is inflated by 2 fans. There is a large crane at the bow, with a rectangular

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

shaped like that of a typical

river barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

. A noteworthy feature of the vehicle is that, if necessary, it can be divided into 15 sections that can be transported and reassembled, and put in the water by its crew. The LACV-30 was capable of traveling in conditions of up to

sea state In oceanography, sea state is the general condition of the free surface on a large body of water—with respect to wind waves and swell—at a certain location and moment. A sea state is characterized by statistics, including the wave height, ...

3. The LACV-30 was criticized for its high purchase and operating costs: it consumed five to seven times as much fuel as a conventional

lighter A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or c ...

. An Army report further criticized its poor reliability, availability, and maintainability. The LACV-30 was also often unable to carry the advertised 30 tons, with typical loads being 22 to 23 tons, although modifications begun in 1983, namely adding a new stern seal and raising the longitudinal seal, enabled the LACV-30 to carry 30-35 tons. The LACV-30s were operated by 8th and 331st Transportation Companies in the U.S. Army's

11th Transportation Battalion The 11th Transportation Battalion ("Over the Shore") is a transportation battalion of the United States Army first formed in 1936. The 11th Transportation Battalion is a subordinate unit of the 7th Transportation Brigade. Lineage * Constituted 1 ...

from 1983 to 1994. Each company had 12 vehicles. The

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

conducted tests on the LACV-30 from 1985–1988. Following their Army service, most LACV-30s were sold to a

Native Alaskan Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entertai ...

company for use as cargo and passenger transports in Alaska. In 1996, the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

investigated the possibility using LACV-30 hovercraft to deliver mail to remote villages in the vicinity of

Bethel, Alaska Bethel ( esu, Mamterilleq) is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is the largest community on the Kuskokwim River, located approximately upriver from where the river flows into Kuskokwim Bay. It is also the largest city in ...

. The LACV-30 was rejected for environmental concerns, particularly its high noise level. The LACV-30 is comparable in noise level to modern military jets or first-generation commercial jet airliners.

References

Hovercraft Military hovercraft {{Water-transport-stub